I am an advocate of living the majority of your life offline. To be present in the moment with the people who are physically in a space with you.

Life and love is massive and cannot be contained within a device. We are meant to interact, touch, hug, laugh, chat, cry, dream, hold, dance, kiss, daydream, snuggle, make eye contact, etc in person. To exchange energy in person. To love in person.

Absolutely there is a place and space for technology and there are many benefits. I am not suggesting to rid your life of your gadgets but instead I suggest the following:

1. BE PRESENT - it is an honor and privilege when someone extends an invite to you to share their time and energy. In social settings, disconnect from the cyber world and connect to the real world, the real people around you.

2. EVERYTHING IS NOT A DOCUMENTARY - you do not need to document your every move. Your cyber community does not need to know you are grocery shopping, enroute to your anniversary dinner or about to use the loo.

3. YOUR BABIES ARE ONLY BABIES FOR A LIMITED TIME - There will come a time when your children do not want to spend time with you or share their thoughts with you. A time will come when their friends, life and social circle carries more weight in their life than you. They will continue to grow, move out of your house and create their own world where you will only have a supporting role in the movie of their life. Listen. Play. Be present. Hug. Kiss. Tuck into bed. Read stories. Eat meals together. Be silly. Show up at school, extracurricular activities and in their hearts. Support them. Believe in them. Encourage them. Tell them you love them. Show them you love them. Put down your gadgets during all of this. There is a time for work and a time for play.

4. INNER VS OUTER CIRCLE - Your relationships, especially your romantic one is a sacred inner circle space (at least it should be). An intimate space where trust is the foundation and vulnerability is allowed. The emotional health of self and each other is a priority. Social media is not a place for this space. The same way you would not allow others into your 'marital bed' is the same way you should not allow others into the 'emotional marital bed' of your relationship. If there are issues, seek an objective 3rd party, a therapist. Social media is not the place. The majority of your relationship should be held in the sacred space. Similiar to an iceberg where a small % is visible/shared with the public and the majority is private, offline, personal.

5. MAKE YOUR RELATIONSHIP A PRIORITY - At Love Grows we believe in the importance of prioritizing your relationships by making time to cultivate each one. Schedule weekly dates with your significant other and make these technology free zones. If you have multiple children, plan a date monthly, biweekly or weekly with each one separately as well because your relationship with each child is different.

Life and love are a precious gift and our relationships have the ability to improve the quality of our life. Is there something more important than your relationships? Is it worth losing your relationship over? Honestly answer the question. Life is here and now.